SeriesFest Conversations: Michelle Paradise, Co-Showrunner of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Michelle Paradise is a highly accomplished writer and producer, who currently serves as the Co-Showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery on Paramount+. Recently, Michelle attended SeriesFest: Season 10 in Denver, and we here at NTG were fortunate enough to sit down with her to discuss the farewell season of Discovery.
 
John Betancourt: I would love to start by knowing what it means to you personally be essentially the shepherd of Star Trek: Discovery’s farewell tour.
 
Michelle Paradise: Oh my gosh. I don't think I can put it into words. You know, the show means so much, to me personally, it means so much to everyone who's worked on it. It launched the new, you know, all the new Trek that's happening. And it's been the flagship show for Paramount+, and CBS Studios. And I know what it means to Alex (Kurtzman) and so to be entrusted with that is huge, and a privilege. And you know, we didn't know it was going to be the last season, but every season we go in, we know that, that we want that season to be even better. And so, when we did find out that it would be our last season, in doing that last bit of it, to wrap it all up, it was just so important that we got it right. And anyway, it's been huge.
 
John Betancourt: I was very surprised to see that there's a lot of intermixing of faith in season five of the show, as kind of an underlying theme. Which Star Trek hasn't done a whole lot of but I'm very curious as to what was the decision or went into the decision to kind of explore faith a bit in a world where it may not be necessary, so to speak?
 
Michelle Paradise: Well, I think it kind of comes out of the themes that we're exploring this season, themes of purpose and meaning. And for some individuals, faith comes into it. And you know, Star Trek is not and wouldn't ever be a religious show, per se. But I don't know that you can explore personal meaning without also having faith as a facet of that, because it is so important to some folks. And whether that's faith in a being, or faith in oneself, or faith in one's partner's, faith in one's crew. And, you know, we're really looking into that, particularly with Culber’s arc this season. And he felt like a natural character to explore that with, and I'm really excited with --- Wilson (Cruz) was just incredible with that season. And I'm really excited for where that goes. And as the next few episodes starts to come out, we'll see a bit more with that in a really cool and Star Trekkie kind of way.
 
John Betancourt: Last question that I have for you today, what do you ultimately hope the legacy of Star Trek Discovery is going to be?
 
Michelle Paradise: I hope ultimately, it's one where you know, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, or longer, as with The Original Series, people look back and feel like they can see themselves. Feel, continue to feel inspired, continue to feel empowered. And you know that that as more Trek comes, you know, that we have had the privilege of helping to launch all of that and, and it's amazing, and there's so many wonderful new shows coming out. You know, I just, I hope that people look back and see, you know, what we've done with it and what we strived to do, and that they're really… that they continue to enjoy it many years from now.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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